Renewable Fuel Standard Articles

EPA has released a proposed rule that would allow E-15 to be sold year-round (subject to certain restrictions) and also impose significant reforms in how RIN markets function. Although NATSO considers the RIN market reform component of the rulemaking unnecessary, EPA appears to have responsibly distinguished between ethanol RINS and RINS associated with advanced biofuels such as biodiesel. NATSO is continuing to analyze the proposal and will provide a more fulsome analysis in the coming days.

Along with many other frustrations stemming from the current government shutdown, some renewable fuel producers, marketers and blenders are experiencing interruptions in daily business operations within the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) moderated transaction system (EMTS).

Parts of the federal government, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation, remain shut down as the 116th Congress gavels into session. For the time being, however, there are minimal impacts on policies affecting motor fuels or highways. This could change, however, if the shutdown continues for several more weeks.

NATSO was invited to testify before Congress today to discuss new legislation that would reform the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and transition the gasoline market to a high octane fuel performance standard.

The Environmental Protection Agency has sent its final renewable volume obligations for 2019 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. This marks the final step before EPA's proposed 2019 renewable fuel mandates are finalized. NATSO will meet with OMB to discuss the proposal in the coming days.

NATSO Inc., the national association representing the travel plaza and truckstop industry, and the Alternative Fuels Council (NATSOAltFuels.com), Oct. 1 launched a new RIN Management Service designed to help fuel retailers that blend and sell renewable fuels to more efficiently participate in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program and manage their Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs).

NATSO submitted formal comments to the Environmental Protection Agency on August 17, outlining the off-highway fuel retailer community's concerns with how the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has been implemented in recent months, while providing the Agency several ideas for how the RFS can be improved. The comments are in response to the Agency's proposed renewable fuel mandates for 2019. Those numbers will not be finalized until November.

A travel center executive testifying on behalf of NATSO told the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the Agency needs a transparent process to guide its assessment of small refinery waiver requests to ensure that such exemptions don’t continue to undermine the law’s intent and decrease demand for biofuels.

The Environmental Protection Agency on June 26 released its proposed renewable volume obligations for 2019 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The proposal also includes a proposed 2020 volume mandate for biomass-based diesel. The proposal would increase advanced biofuels volume requirements for 2019 and biodiesel requirements for 2020 while holding the so-called "ethanol" volume requirement steady.

A dozen members of Congress on June 20 asked Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt to stop granting small refineries hardship exemptions from their biofuel blending requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard until he answers questions that would allow Congress to evaluate the program.

NATSO Inc. on June 12 launched a new business venture known as the Alternative Fuels Council (NATSOAltFuels.com) to help fuel retailers leverage the resources necessary to learn about and incorporate alternative fuels into their supply offerings.

President Trump said May 8 that he is considering allowing the unrestricted sale of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol and will let biofuel exports count toward refiners’ domestic renewable fuel obligations. The proposed changes follow months of fractious negotiations between the corn and oil industries over the future of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). However, major elements of the compromise remained in dispute after the meeting between top administration officials and four senators ended.

In late March, Congress passed and President Trump signed a massive $1.3 trillion spending bill. The 2,232-page piece of legislation contained a plethora of policy changes that are important to fuel marketers. There were also a number of policy changes that were not included in the legislation that would have impacted
the marketing community.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 26 that the agency received more than 50 waiver petitions for small refineries to get out of their Renewable Fuel Standard requirements for the 2016 and 2017 compliance years. EPA has come under fire for abusing the waivers to quietly undercut the RFS after the agency exempted one of the nation’s largest oil refining companies from complying with the U.S. biofuels regulation.

NATSO on March 26 sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice outlining the truckstop industry's opposition to a proposed settlement agreement for the bankrupt refinery Philadelphia Energy Solutions. The proposed settlement would absolve the refinery of many of its RIN obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), and represents in many ways the latest iteration of the years-long battle between merchant refiners that strongly oppose the RFS and other segments of the fuels supply chain that have adjusted their business models based on the RFS's incentives.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt Dec. 1 requesting that the agency complete several outstanding studies assessing the impact of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on air, water, and land quality.

The U.S. Department of Commerce Oct. 23 announced a preliminary determination regarding biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia, finding biodiesel is being dumped into the United States at below fair-market value. As a result, biodiesel importers will be required to pay cash deposits to the U.S. government on biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia at a rate equal to the dumping margins.

Responding to pushback from a number of Midwestern Senators, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt outlined a number of steps the agency intends to take on the Renewable Fuel Standard. Pruitt detailed the changes, which will be beneficial to NATSO members, in an Oct. 19 letter addressed to seven Senators, including Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst and Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer among others.